Successful managers have

1
Successful managers have

• Traits of the head - initiative,
  co-operativeness, flexibility, and coolness under
  pressure.
• At the expense of
• traits of the heart - honesty, friendliness,
  compassion, generosity, and idealism.
• Michael Maccoby

2
Emotional detachment has an analogue in moral
disengagement

• Note the responses of NASA to Challenger, of
  Union Carbide to Bhopal, of Exxon to the Exxon
  Valdez disaster, of Bearings Bank to Nick
  Leesons dealings, of Alan Bond to the Tooheys
  hotel leaseholders, of Jodie Rich to One Tel, of
  Ray Williams to HIH, of Gordon Gekko to the world
  

3
Jackall quotes a manager in Moral Mazes

• What is right in the corporation is not what is
  right in a mans home or in his church. What is
  right in the corporation is what the guy above
  you wants from you. Thats what morality is in
  the corporation.

4
Jackalls five rules of corporate morality
(survival)

1. Dont go around your boss
2. even if your boss invites dissent, tell him or
   her what he or she wants to hear
3. if the boss wants something dropped, drop it
4. anticipate the bosss wishes - dont force him or
   her to act the boss
5. do not report what the boss does not want
   reported, cover it up and remain silent.

5
Goodpasters notion of teleopathy

• the unbalanced pursuit of goals by an individual
  or group. Teleopathy ...is a suspension of
  on-line moral judgement as a practical force in
  the life of an individual or group. It
  substitutes for the call of conscience the call
  of decision criteria from other sources winning
  the game, achieving the goal, following the rules
  laid down by some framework external to ethical
  reflection.

6
The Pinto

• In 1968 Ford adopted plan for a subcompact on a
  2x2x2 plan (2,000 pounds, 2,000 in 2 years).
• In pre-launch tests, Ford discovered that rear
  end collisions propelled the gas tank onto the
  real axle and unless modified, the car always
  caught fire.
• Ford did not modify the Pinto. Why?

7
Fords Cost/Benefit Analysis

• Ford applied a generic cost/benefit analysis to
  all kinds of accident based on National Highway
  Traffic Safety Administration estimates of the
  worth of a human life around 200,00 and its
  own figures on deaths from car accidents. The
  analysis is as follows

8

• Future productivity losses
• Direct 132,000
• Indirect 41,000
• Medical Costs - Hospital 700 Other 425
• Property Damages 1,500
• Insurance administration 4,700
• Legal and court expenses 3,000
• Employer losses 1,000
• Victim's pain and suffering 10,000
• Funeral 900
• Assets (lost consumption)5,000
• Miscellaneous accident costs 200
•  
• Total per fatality 200,725

9

• Benefits
• 180 burn death, 180 serious burn injuries, 2,100
  burned vehicles
• Unit cost 200,000 per death, 67,000 per
  injury, 700 per vehicle
• Total Benefit (180 x 200,000) (180 x 67,000)
  (2,100 x 700) 49.5 mil.
•  Costs
• Sales 11 million cars, 1.5 million light trucks
• Unit cost 11 per car, 11 per truck
• Total cost 12.5 million x 11 137.5 million

10

• On this analysis, Ford decided not to modify the
  Pinto chassis.
• In 1978 in Indiana, a Ford Pinto with three young
  women aboard was struck in the rear and all three
  burned to death. This was only one of a number of
  such incidents, but Ford was indicted this time.
• The judge instructed the jury that Ford would be
  guilty of wrongful death if it could be shown to
  have been indifferent to the dangers of the
  Pinto.
• Ford was acquitted.

11
What is to be done?

• Codes Leadership
• Ethics training Incentives and
  disincentives
• Ethics officers Hotlines
• Committees Ombudsman
• Newsletters Performance standards
• Can all support a culture of ethical excellence

12
CODES

• Rule of law
• Common floor
• State fundamental values
• Can be codes of conduct or ethics or hybrid
• Must be used frequently to be effective
• Should be part of induction and development
• Must cover whole organisation
• Can be developed at top

13
Decision models

• Do NOT make the decision for you
• Document the decision and the process
• Make plain what values are sacrificed
• Aid in moral reasoning
• Objectify moral reasoning and allow an example to
  be set

14
Whistelblowing

• Public exposure of a danger to public interest
• Permitted when a serious issue is not addressed
  within an organisation
• Not internal
• Involves a betrayal of kinds
• Is a costly remedy
• Motives of whistleblower not central
• Difficult to legislate protection for

15
Roles

• No licence to kill
• Roles add to responsibilities, they do not exempt
• Suggest that one is impersonating another like an
  actor that the function of the role is what
  matters and the occupant doesnt
• Contribute to lost responsibility in organisations